Golf club shaft



Aug. 11, 1936.

G. E. BARNHART GOLF CLUB SHAFT Filed Oct. 50, 1954 George Barnizarzi Patented Aug. 11, 1936 UNITED STATES.

PATENT orrrcs JClaims.

In the making of tubular metallic golf, club shafts it is desirable to configure the shaft and proportion the taper in such a way as to afford a slight degree or flexibility, and varations in these particulars will produce correspondingvariations in'the feel of the club which is a matter oi major importance in the minds of discriminatlug users of goli clubs. I

Various expedlents have been adopted to accentuste the donation of the shaft in the desired region, but such attempts have usually been predicated upon the assumptionthat it was desirable to progressively decrease the diameter of the shaft, either by continuous taper or by a stepping down arrangement from the handle end of the shaft toward the head end thereof without interruption in the continuity of the donation;

The shaft or the present invention differs from those above referred to in that the shaft is funcso tlonally divided into two portions by a region of sbrupt transitionwhich in effect separates the as a whole into two units oi :dexatlon, one of which extenm from the handle portion of shaft to the medial region, and the other oi which from the medial region to the point of attachment to the golf club head, thus to a considerable extent duplicating the some or a similar taper in different portions of the shalt. By dividing the shaft into two units oi fiexation which may vary in length relative to one another, it is possible to correspondingly vary the action oi the shaft with the resultant feel so that with the some weight of the metal in the shaft and within the same linear overall dimensions, it 18 possible to secure marked variations of such character as to meet the individual requirements of discriminating Further objects and details ofthe invention will appear from a description thereof in com junction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a View partially in section of a golf club embodying the principles or the present intaxation, in which both portions or the shaft ore tepered; end

2. is a similer view showing the handle portion of the shaft untapered or cylindrical.

The shaft oi the present invention is preferably formed of drawn seamless tubing, and as shown in Figs. 3. end 2 the entire shaft length is 59 formed from or single piece oi tubing. In Fig. l

the upper portion ill, which at its upper end carries the handle grip, is gradually and uniformly tapered below the handle grip toward the mwlal region of the shaft and terminates in an $5 abruot outwardly protruding shoulder it which is in the nature of a symmetrical bulge in the wall of the shaft and materially enlarges the diam eter of the shaft at the crest of the shoulder, at, which point the shaft merges into the lower portion it which is also gradually and uniformly 5 tapered from the crest of the shoulder to the tip endwhich enters the socket 53 of the golf club head it, thus to a considerable degree duplicating the taper of the upper portion in the same direction. i g

The diameter of the upper terminus of the head portion ofthe shaft is materially greater than the diameter of the lower terminus of the handle portion of the shaft, the shoulder aflording asufiiciently abrupt bending or bulging of the metal to functionally separate or segregate the two sections so that they will, to a considerable extent. flex each in conformity with therequirements of its own configuration, which is determined by the ratio in diminution of the diameter throughout the shaft portion. Although, as shown in Fig. 1, each of the shaft portions it and 82, respectively, is continuously and uniformly tapered in contormity with a computed ratio, it is not the intention to limit the invention to one which is necessarily tapered throughout each shaft portion, or in which the tapering is necessarily in the same ratio throughout each shaft portion, since variations in the extent of the tapering or in degree may be introduced for the purpose of further refining the action of the shaft if desired. However, the characteristic feature oi the present invention resides in the fact that the medial bulge or shoulder shall abruptly increase the diameter of the upper end of the lower shaft portion as compared with the diameter of the lower end of the upper shaft portion, so that the shoulder will afiord a division or barrier between the two portions, each of which will be configured and tapered in the same direction as a unit.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a smilar arrangement which difiers from the preceding only in the fact that the upper or handle portion th of the shaft is of uniform diameter throughout, or, in other words, is cylindrical, but of less diameter than the 45 maximum diameter at the upper end of the lower shaft section it", which begins at the crest of the shoulder H and tapers down at the tip end of the shaft to a lesser diameter than that of the cylindrical upper portion of the shaft.

In the golf club of the present invention, howsoever constructed, two separated regions of maximum ilexation will be afforded, one near the lower end and one above the shoulder, so that continuity in action is as it were interrupted in the medial portion of the shaft which affords a region of increased stiffness as compared with the regions of greater flexibility both above and below the shoulder. By locating the shoulder at the desired point, and by computing the diame'tric relations along the upper portion of the shaft and along the lower portion of the shaft, and by relating these computations'to one another, numerous variations in the action and the resultant feel" of the shaft may be introduced and the flexibility of the shaft distributed in a distinctive manner and centered in two separated regions.

Although the present invention is not in any sense dependent upon any particular ratio in wall thickness in metal from end to end of the shaft, nevertheless in actual practice it is customary to progressively and gradually increase the wall thickness in the region toward the tip or head end of the shaft, and by methods which permit the weight of the metal to be distributed in conformity with any desired computation, so

that by properly combining the ratio of the diameters in, the upper and lower portions of the shaft with a desired distribution of the metal, the

flexibility, weight and strength of various portions of the shaft may be computed with precision and in such a way as to meet all requirements.

I claim:

1. A tubular metallic golf club shaft of uniform cross sectional shape throughoutjts length, comprising an upper portion carrying the handle or grip and tapering downwardly to a medial region at which the metal of the shaft wall is abruptly bulged outwardly in symmetrical relation to the axis of the shaft, thereby forming an annular stiffening shoulder; and a lower portion tapering downwardly from a maximum diameter at said shoulder toward its opposite-orv tip end.

2. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at its lower end, said shaft having contiguous upper and lower portions of circular cross section throughout, and said upper and lower portions being connected by a portion outwardly protruding from the upper portion and providing the upper terminus of the lower portion, said lower portion tapering to a minimum diameter in the tip region.

3. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at its lower end, said shaft having contiguous upper and lower portions of circular cross section throughout, and said upper and lower portions being tapered in the same general direction and connected by a portion outwardly protruding from the upper portion and providing the upper terminus of the lower portion.

4. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at-its lower end, said shaft having contiguous upper and lower portions of circular cross section throughout, and said upper and lower portions being connected in the medial region of the shaft by a portion which outwardly protrudes from the upper portion and merges with the upper terminus of the lower portion, said lower portion tapering to a minimum diameter in the tip region.

5. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at its lower end, said shaft being of circular cross section throughout and consisting of an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper and lower portions being interconnected by a shoulder outwardly protruding from the upper portion and affording the upper terminus for the lower portion, and the lower portion immediately below the shoulder tapering therefrom to a minimum diameter at the tip.

6. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at its lower end, said shaft being of circular cross section throughout and comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper and lower portions being interconnected by a shoulder outwardly protruding from the upper portion and affording the upper terminus for the lower portion, and the lower portion immediately below the shoulder tapering therefrom to a minimum diameter in the tip region, and the minimum diameter of the lower portion being less than the minimum diameter of the upper portion in the region adjacent the shoulder.

7. A tubular metallic golf club shaft having a grip portion at its upper end and a tip at its lower end, said shaft being of circular cross section throughout and comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, both of said portions being tapered in the same general direction, said upper and lower portions being interconnected by a shoulder outwardly protruding from the upper portion and affording the upper terminus for the lower portion, the lower portion being of maximum diameter at the crest of the shoulder and tapering to lesser diameter toward its tip end, and the minimum diameter of the lower portion being less than the minimum diameter of the upper portion in the region adiacent the shoulder.

GEORGE E. BARNHART. 

